The Associated Press

COLUMBUS - State Sen. Louis Blessing Jr. wants to be Ohio's next consumers' counsel.

The longtime state legislator, R-Colerain Township, has written to Jerome Solove, chairman of the Consumers' Counsel Governing Board, to make a pitch for the job, replacing Robert Tongren who resigned under fire.

Blessing is a lawyer who also has an economics degree and is chairman of the Senate Public Utilities Committee. He can't run for re-election in 2004 because of term limits.

He told Solove he could help the agency because of his knowledge of the Legislature and the process.

Meanwhile, the governing board hasn't made any moves to find a replacement for Tongren, who quit two weeks ago. Solove said he may call a special meeting to set the replacement process.

Tongren resigned in the wake of a controversy about his decision to settle a FirstEnergy electricity case, giving the Akron utility the full $8.7 billion it sought to recoup from customers.

Blessing, who has served in the Legislature for 20 years, told Solove he can "help the OCC survive."

"The consumers' counsel needs to weigh in quickly and aggressively," Blessing wrote. "If that doesn't happen, we may not have a consumers' counsel after the next budget."

Blessing said he would be an aggressive consumers' counsel who would not be afraid to litigate utility cases or settle them when necessary.

Deputy Consumers' Counsel Eric Stephens is running the agency on an interim basis, but he has indicated he does not want the permanent position, which pays up to $137,654 annually.